Meet Roseann Dugan: Realtor, hockey mom, baker, workaholic

BORN IN BRISTOL: “I was born and raised in Bristol, attended St. Elizabeth’s School and graduated from Bristol High School. When my ex-husband and I married, we moved to Manassas, Va., 20 miles outside of Washington, DC. He was an airline employee. I got my real estate license in Virginia, and then got a Florida license a few years later when we moved to Orlando, where we stayed for four years.”

EMPTY NEST: “We moved back to Bristol when my kids were young. My daughter, Ashley, is now 22 years old and in nursing school. My son, Christopher, is 19, and studying at the University of Rhode Island. I’ve been divorced about five years now. I’ve got a new man in my life, which is great, but I’ve got an empty nest!”

PREVIOUS CAREERS: “When we came back to Rhode Island with two small children, I wanted a job with more clearly defined hours, so I could be available for the kids, be active in the parents group, and that sort of thing. So I worked as a medical assistant for several years and had that set schedule, then returned to real estate full-time when the kids were a little older. I’m licensed in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts now.”

PUBLIC SCHOOLS: “Both of my children went to the former Arts Magnet school. It was a wonderful program. I was very involved with getting it off the ground and with the parents group until Christopher finished fifth grade and moved on to the middle school. I am a very big advocate for public education, and for the Bristol-Warren district in particular. As a realtor, I see a lot of clients with young children interested in other towns where the schools are perceived to be especially strong. But in my experience, the key to success is parental involvement. If the parent is not involved in their child’s education, the child will not succeed no matter how good the school’s reputation.”

BAKING: “I don’t get a lot of downtime but when I do, I love to bake. I come from an Italian and Portuguese background so we love to cook, bake, and of course eat. It makes it hard to stay in shape!”

ISLAND GETAWAYS: “My ideal escape would be somewhere on a warm, sunny beach with a pina colada and my Kindle. Danielle Steele, a mindless romance. Nothing too deep when it comes to beach reading. I enjoy cruising the Caribbean and would love to get to the Dominican Republic in the near future.”

HOCKEY MOM: “I don’t watch a lot of professional sports, but my son is a hockey player and I spent much of his childhood as a hockey mom, traveling to tournaments around New England. It was a way of life, and so much fun. For a long time, my life was family, real estate, and hockey. I’m still a fan of the Mt. Hope team, and follow their season.”

REAL ESTATE TODAY: “These days, there’s a story behind every real estate deal – nothing is easy, everything is complicated. At the height of the market, all you needed was a pencil to close a sale. Now you have issues with everything from septic to mold to radon to inspections. I think we have to work twice as hard to make the same amount of money that we did in the past, which is why I think it would be a very difficult business to do part-time.”

WHY REAL ESTATE: “I’m a bit of a workaholic – I think most people in real estate have to be these days, if you want to succeed. We are in the age of information technology and nobody wants to wait for anything. Technology helps, but I have difficulty detaching. I answer my phone at almost any hour. Some people shut theirs off but I have a tough time doing that. Time management is always a challenge but I love real estate – I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”